how long to ride Sycamore canyon from Santee Lakes?

So with gas costing my arm, leg, and left nut, I am thinking about biking to work maybe twice a week. I would have to go from Santee lakes to General Atomics off of the 5 and Sorrento valley road so I was thinking like 2 hours maybe but I haven't ridden Sycamore for speed, might this weekend, but I was wondering how long it took all you guys to ride it going at a good speed. My route would be form there to some streets to los penasquitos canyon and into work, is my approximation about right?

Well if you had up Sycamore to Poway find a way on to Scripps Poway Parkway take that to the end where it becomes Mercy Rd ride through LPQ you come out close to where you want to be.

My suggestion would be find a park and ride between your home and work along that route. I know you can cross LPQ pretty quick if your just commuting but Sycamore would be an all up hill grade coming from Santee Lakes. I also don't know how much fun that amount of road riding would be on a mountain bike. You might wear through a set of knobies.

Yeah, Nappy's right that Sycamore would leave you a bit further east than you want to be - you'd be looking at a lot of riding and I like the suggestion of using a park-n-ride somewhere along the 15 and then using penasquitos to commute into Sorrento and then take GA's private road up from there.

From experience, take the road

Originally Posted by pablo4429

So with gas costing my arm, leg, and left nut, I am thinking about biking to work maybe twice a week. I would have to go from Santee lakes to General Atomics off of the 5 and Sorrento valley road so I was thinking like 2 hours maybe but I haven't ridden Sycamore for speed, might this weekend, but I was wondering how long it took all you guys to ride it going at a good speed. My route would be form there to some streets to los penasquitos canyon and into work, is my approximation about right?

thanks a ton all
paul

You could Do:
Father Junipero Road through mission trails to Mission Gorge.
Mission Gorge to Friars.
Friars to Morena or mission bay
Either of these to the Rose Canyon bike path that ends at I5 and Gilman.
Beyond that you are on your own.

From the Jackson Dr visitors center to the Gilman road end of the rose creek bike path is approximately 18 miles (give or take a mile or two depending on your route).
15.5 MPH is about average commute speed as there are a ton of lights through Mission Valley. 18MPH is haulin ass from light to light (not that it is hauling ass but it is hauling with traffic, lights every 200 yards etc).

I average about 1:10 ride time in each direction for a similar route, from MTRP to the top of Gilman Drive.

Prepare for a lot os close calls, Mission Valley can be a death trap in the summer.

Take the Trolley

I don't work far from you. Get a road bike if you want to ride all the way. Take the 52 to Santo to Clairmont Mesa all the way down to Mission Bay. Take the bike path from the Bay up to the In N Out by the 5. Take the road that Bicycle Warehouse is on to the Bike Path to Gilman. Gilman to UCSD, UCSD to John Jay Hopkins then down General Atomics Way.

What I do: I take the Trolley to the Morena Rd Stop, get off, get to the beach bike path at Mission Bay and then follow the above directions all the way to General Atomics Way.

i think 4 hours may be a little long. im thinking like 1:15 to ride sycamore then like 20 to ride the 5 miles to the trailhead a guy at work showed me then like 45 it takes him to ride in from there. even if it takes 1.5 hours to ride sycamore that still only puts me at 2.5hrs and ill only be doing it like twice a week

i really want to stay off the road as much as possible. i dont trust people when im surrounded by my car, much less when im riding a 33 pound mountain bike

well see im gonna ride it hard tomorrow evening to see how ling sycamore takes

thanks for the input though all

unfortunately to park and ride only saves me like 1.5 miles over what it would take to actually drive to work haha, because i have to go up so far north to reach the trailhead to Los Pen.

Maybe...depending on what tires you have. I still don't think you can break 3 hours but then again I've never rode that route. I loathe riding both through Mission Valley and on Clairemont Mesa road which is why I take the Trolley to the mission bay bike path.

Good Luck! Tell us the time it took. Maybe I won't have to say, "I told you so."

meals- thanks thats a pretty cool site and the elevation is not bad at all for where i want to go

mouse jockey- so i rode to the main intersection right past the ranger house and it only took me like 40 mins from my house which is about 2 miles from santee lakes. i would have finished but had a small crash so i had to turn back but that was all on the single track, next time im gonna do the fire road to see how much faster that is.

meals- thanks thats a pretty cool site and the elevation is not bad at all for where i want to go

mouse jockey- so i rode to the main intersection right past the ranger house and it only took me like 40 mins from my house which is about 2 miles from santee lakes. i would have finished but had a small crash so i had to turn back but that was all on the single track, next time im gonna do the fire road to see how much faster that is.

I'd be willing to check it out with you once (misery loves company) but I have to be at work at 6:30 so I'd be looking at a 4:30 or 5am start time.

damn man thats pretty early haha ill be starting to ride it in early june because some of the guys from work and myself will be riding a big portion of the ride in reverse and ill be able to see which ride i will really be taking and how long it should take

damn man thats pretty early haha ill be starting to ride it in early june because some of the guys from work and myself will be riding a big portion of the ride in reverse and ill be able to see which ride i will really be taking and how long it should take

ok meals on wheels, i rode it today and it only took like 50 minutes form my house which isnt that far from the trailhead behind santee lakes. im also outta shape becaseu my bike has been down for a while so im sure that could be cut by like 5 or 10 minutes

ok meals on wheels, i rode it today and it only took like 50 minutes form my house which isnt that far from the trailhead behind santee lakes. im also outta shape becaseu my bike has been down for a while so im sure that could be cut by like 5 or 10 minutes

You made it from your house in Santucky to Sorrento Valley in 50 minutes?? Pablo, if you are outta shape I want to be outta shape too. That is smokin' fast. I don't see how I'd keep up with you. How long did it take you to get to the Martha's Grove parking lot, and from there to Sorrento Valley?

hahahahah meals: i wish i could ride that in that time, no it took 50 to get to the parking lot where the fire road and the martas grove trail split, so not that fast. but i havent done the whole ride yet. my riding comp said about 10mph average, so im sure you can keep up.

hahahahah meals: i wish i could ride that in that time, no it took 50 to get to the parking lot where the fire road and the martas grove trail split, so not that fast. but i havent done the whole ride yet. my riding comp said about 10mph average, so im sure you can keep up.

Oh, that sounds about right in terms of time to get to the dirt lot. I'm going to give it a shot on Mon or Tues and I'll let you know how it goes. Doing that type of ride on a Bullit with 2.5s is going to be a killer...

It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes from approximately Santana High School to North of the Border Bicycles. I live/work close to both locations. Going home may be another story. I feel good but I want to try riding up PQ to Scripps Poway Parkway to Martha's/Sycamore back home. It adds some mileage and elevation. I'll let you know Pablo.

It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes from approximately Santana High School to North of the Border Bicycles. I live/work close to both locations. Going home may be another story. I feel good but I want to try riding up PQ to Scripps Poway Parkway to Martha's/Sycamore back home. It adds some mileage and elevation. I'll let you know Pablo.

That's excellent. How much road riding did you do? Did you take Mira Mesa all the way down from the 15??

I purposely took this route in the morning to save my legs for the ride home and so that I would get to work on time. Here's the route I took Map
Too much road riding unfortunately...

Okay, that route and time makes sense. I thought you rode up through Sycamore to Poway, which would have been smoking to get to North of the Border from there. That's about the same time I take when I ride Clairmont Mesa to the Mission Bay Bike Path to UCSD or even when I just take the Trolley to Morena. Good Job Ryan!

Okay, that route and time makes sense. I thought you rode up through Sycamore to Poway, which would have been smoking to get to North of the Border from there. That's about the same time I take when I ride Clairmont Mesa to the Mission Bay Bike Path to UCSD or even when I just take the Trolley to Morena. Good Job Ryan!

Kearny Villa road and Carroll aren't so bad but Miramar is ugly.

Thanks Tom. Yeah Miramar is ugly.

How often do you ride to work?

Last night's ride home involved more dirt.

I dropped into PQ's little canyon just south of Sorrento Valley Blvd. and then under SVB and into the main canyon of PQ. I almost never ride in PQ, so it sucks to see how bikes are relegated to fireroad with many singletrack trails labeled as "No bikes". I can see why all of the singletrack mentioned on this site and others has been mysteriously appearing.

After PQ I connected with a section of the Sea to Sea Trail which runs under the 15. That eventually connected with a wide, smooth DG trail which paralleled Poway Rd. Eventually that trail ended although I saw a fireroad nearby that went up a hill, but as this was an exploratory trip so I went over to Poway Rd. and headed east. I had already made a few wrong turns and I just wanted to make sure I was able to ride this before exploring alternate routes.

From Poway Rd. I stayed straight on Garden Rd. and headed right onto Sycamore Canyon. 2 hours after leaving the office I was at the Martha's Grove Trailhead. I did Martha's and followed singletrack through Sycamore and then exited through the moto jumps and over hill to the northeast of the lakes. It took me 50 minutes to get home from the top of Martha's (really slow time due to some cramping that started near the moto jumps). The ride home was over 30 miles using that Veloroutes site compared with my morning route of 21 miles. Elevation gain was greater as well.

Hey guys. I live at Black Mountain and 56 and am trying to plan a route to Gillespie Field. If I ride down to Mercy and east on Scripps Poway Pkwy, do I have to stay on SPP and go through Sycamore Canyon? Or is there a more direct way involving part or none of Sycamore Canyon? The last time I rode Syc Can. was about 6 years ago and from Santee Lakes to "the fence" was off limits/questionable with everything to the west of that trail off limits. Is that still true? Google maps shows a number of fire roads or trails that are more direct, but is that a no fly zone?

Hey guys. I live at Black Mountain and 56 and am trying to plan a route to Gillespie Field. If I ride down to Mercy and east on Scripps Poway Pkwy, do I have to stay on SPP and go through Sycamore Canyon? Or is there a more direct way involving part or none of Sycamore Canyon? The last time I rode Syc Can. was about 6 years ago and from Santee Lakes to "the fence" was off limits/questionable with everything to the west of that trail off limits. Is that still true? Google maps shows a number of fire roads or trails that are more direct, but is that a no fly zone?

Thanks
John

What's going on at Gillespie?

The only north/south trail from Poway to Santee is Sycamore Canyon. There are a series of fireroads to the east of the canyon which you can follow to Santee, but there's no sense riding that when you can follow singletrack through Sycamore. Much of the singletrack will be new to you since much was developed after the Cedar fires. Technically some of the trails fall on military land, but I haven't heard anything about the military actually stopping people. Enjoy the ride.